A century ago, Bangalore was "The Garden City," and later it became "Science City." Now it is the fastest-growing metropolis in Asia, nerve-center of an explosion in software and high-tech industries. Its name may soon be as well known as Silicon Valley's.

The "ship of the desert" has long sustained West Africa's herders with food, clothing, shelter and, in lands too lean for cows, fresh milk. Now Nancy Abeiderrahmane's dairy is giving urban Mauritanians their own "sip of the desert"—pasteurized, packed in cartons and on sale in grocers' coolers.

Perfumes all over the world rely on a precious, redolent foundation of twice-distilled attar, or rose oil. All over the Arab world, weddings, festive occasions and recipes may call for rosewater, attar's parent distillate. With pride and pleasure, the highland rose farmers near Taif, in western Saudi Arabia, produce elegant grades of both

Ruling a tumultuous India at the zenith of Mughal power, Shah Jahan's chancery kept exquisite written and painted records of his 30-year reign. Though but one copy survives of the Padshahnamah, or Chronicle of the King of the World itself marking but one decade—it is among the finest and most artistically eclectic of several centuries of royal books.

In the Jordanian Badia—the place the Bedouins come from—Jordanian and British scientists have teamed up to study how this vast, fragile yet resilient land might support more people. They are taking advice from every quarter, calling on shepherds and herbs, solar panels and satellites.